There comes a point when no words can capture our sorrow and our rage, as police violence takes Black life, after Black life, after Black life. We passed that point a long time ago. Daunte Wright is the latest – a young man, a father, a son, a person with his whole life ahead of him, described by his mother as a loving kid with a big heart. Last Sunday Daunte was with his girlfriend on the way to his brother's house when police pulled him over in Brooklyn Center for a traffic stop. An air freshener they said. He called his mom immediately, and just a few minutes later, Duante was murdered by the police. He was only 20 years old. An accident they said. [1]

This should be self-evident, but let’s be **extra** clear. This should never have happened.

And as Jeff Storm, a local lawyer put it so clearly, “It’s not an accident to take your gun out of the holster. It’s not an accident to point your gun. It's not an accident to ignore the fact that what you're holding doesn’t weigh the same amount as the Taser that you’ve used hundreds of times.”

As a young Black man in this country, Duante had every reason to fear for his life at the hands of police, how could he not. Katie Wright, Duante’s mom, told journalists, "I know my son was scared. He's afraid of the police, and I just saw and heard the fear in his voice. But I don't know why, and it should have never escalated the way it did.”

Time and time again we have seen Black people killed by police, and then have their whole lives put on trial. Let's be even more clear here. Black people deserve to live and breath in a world where skittles, air fresheners, toys, cell phones or sleeping in your bed or opening your front door does not make you a criminal or someone whose life can be taken with no recourse or accountability.

No one should ever be murdered by police because of a routine traffic stop, or for any reason at all. We saw this earlier this week when an officer in Virginia held Lieutenant Caron Nazario at gunpoint, handcuffed him and doused him with pepper spray all during a “routine traffic stop.” [2]

The police officer responsible for the shooting of Duante Wright, Kimberly Potter, has resigned but this is not enough. The scourge of police terror and police violence must end and if we are being honest police who commit murder should be held accountable for their crimes in the same way we would. Throwing more money at police departments for training has not worked, and after the murder of Philando Castille, the state of Minnesota poured $12 million into police training.[3] That training did not save George Floyd and it did not save Daunte Wright. If we are committed to creating a world where Black Lives Matter, we must have real police accountability. This includes re-imagining public safety and shifting resources so we invest in communities rather than extracting resources to criminalize them.

We’re calling on Brooklyn Center, MN government city officials right now, we want justice and we will not wait!

Together we can take a powerful stance that cannot be ignored. We are horrified and angry, but that’s not enough. We need to take action to not only hold those involved accountable for their crimes, but also to call out and dismantle white supremacist systems that enable and fuel these incidents of police violence against individuals and communities of color every day.

Thank you for standing with us to demand justice for Daunte and his family, and thank you for taking action to demand and end to police violence.

-Amber, Aryan, Beatriz, Beth, Casey, Christina, Claudia, Diarra, Diana, Donna, dream, Elyssa, Felicia, Gloria, Hanna, Jessica, Jordan, Joy, Julia, Karen, Keisha, Kelle, Kristin, Linda, Lisa, Lucrecer, Maggie, Marysol, Monifa, Nadia, Nancy, Nate, Nina, Ruby, Ruth, Sara, Shanette, Sheila, Sili, Sue Anne, Tasmiha, Taylor, Tina, Tola, and Xochitl

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